The university partnered with Bell Canada last August to manage the project. There was an urgency to quickly set up the wireless network and a lack of in-house IT staff to quickly do it themselves.

Why the rush?

'The university had a strategic imperative to make the campus a learning center geared toward the students and wireless fitted that theme,' said Roger Lauzon, University of Windsor's executive director of information and technology services. Marketing also played a part, he added.

'You want to attract and retain students. They are coming in looking for wireless (connectivity) and asking 'Do you have wireless access and how much access do you have?'' Lauzon said. He added that initially the university planned to roll out its wireless network over three years, but that new requirements demanded that it be done much sooner -- within five months.

Nenab Glavan, project manager with Bell Canada's professional services arm, described the University of Windsor project as 'intense.' Bell was given two weeks to install 202 access points throughout the University of Windsor's eight student residences -- the first of two project phases. The implementation needed to happen prior to students returning to the school in the fall.